Lynn, a state champion for the Montezuma-Cortez High School Panthers last season, was trailing Grizzly junior Kevin Schmitt (Arlington, Texas) 4-0 after the first period but got a fall just 37 seconds into the period giving the Green squad a 9-6 lead that they would not relinquish throughout the rest of the 7-match slate, which proved to be competitive with over half of the matches being decided by three or fewer points.
The Green team also claimed a thrilling come-from-behind 10-8 sudden victory win at 149 pounds from sophomore A.J. Knoll (Arbury Hills, Ill.), a transfer from NCAA Division III Dubuque (Iowa), and a 5-1 victory from sophomore Daniel Kelly (Parker, Colo.) over sophomore Max Ortega (Rio Rancho, N.M.) in what was touted as the premier match of the evening to build a 15-6 lead before 4-1 and 5-2 decisions by redshirt freshmen Jessy Amos (Anchorage, Alaska) and Paul Cabbage (Rio Rancho, N.M.) helped the Black team close the final gap.
The Black team had taken the early lead as true freshman Jerry Huff (Broomfield, Colo.) took a 6-2 lead before pinning redshirt freshman Dominic Madril (Westminster, Colo.) with just 17 seconds left in the second period of the 125-pound match.
Redshirt freshman Corey Johnson (Newcastle, Calif.) then started the Green Team's run with a 6-3 decision over fellow redshirt freshman Michael Lee (Albuquerque, N.M.) at 133 pounds.
Lynn, who had given up a takedown and 2-point near fall to Schmitt in the first period of 141 pounds, then continued Green's momentum, before Jesse Long (Albuquerque, N.M.) built a 6-2 lead after the first period in his bout with Knoll. Extending that lead to 8-3 through two periods, Long suddenly watched a Knoll takedown and 3-point near fall just moments before the final buzzer tie the score while barely erasing a potential riding time bonus point.
Knoll then scored the winning takedown 40 seconds into the extra 1-minute period helping Green extend its lead to 15-6.
Kelly, one of just two returning starters on the Grizzlies' new-look 2010-11 roster, then claimed his victory over Ortega, a 5-time high school state champion out of Rio Rancho, New Mexico who wrestled at Division I Indiana last season, as the Green team built up a 15-6 advantage.
Amos, a 2-time state champion while in high school, then was dead-locked with Mark Mabry, Jr. (Benson, Ariz.), also a 2-time state high school champion, through two period before he scored a third period takedown mid-way through the period en-route to his 4-1 win.
Down 15-9 at that point, the Black team then needed a pin from Cabbage, who looked to be in complete control of Grizzly sophomore Dominic DeMarco (Shingle Springs, Calif.) in the opening period. Cabbage was up 4-0 through three minutes but could not score from the neutral position in the second period.
Cabbage then chose the top position to begin third period but gave up a reversal to DeMarco, ending the Black team's hope of coming back for a tie.
The Grizzlies will begin their regular season this Saturday at the Cowboy Open, to be contested in the War Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Action on 10 mats is slated to begin at 9 a.m. and will include teams throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
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